It's a great achievement to beat England at Lord's, says Hasan Ali

The young fast bowler contibuted admirably for his country in the special win.

Hassan Ali enjoyed bowling at the home of Cricket. (Getty)

Hasan Ali, the Pakistan fast bowler has come out and stated that he his overjoyed to have contributed to a famous Pakistan win at Lord's against England last week. Coming into the Test, nobody gave the young, inexperienced Pakistani team a chance of excelling in alien conditions versus the more fancied opponent.

Hasan Ali himself got crucial breakthroughs from time to time to shoulder the responsibility in the attack that included Mohammed Amir, Mohammed Abbas, and Faheem Ashraf.

Hassan Ali talked in an interview with Firstpost about the game and said, “Yes, it's true that some people were saying England versus Pakistan was going to be men against boys, but whether it's men or boys, the winner is the one who performs best during the match. It's a great achievement to beat England at Lord's which is regarded as the Home of Cricket.”

“Every young cricketer wants to play at Lord's and to perform well. I've played a One-Day international at Lord's previously but to get the chance to play a Test match at Lord's was just a memorable experience and a unique experience. It's inspiring for players to get the chance to play there and what made this such a fantastic occasion was that we won in style. It's been a brilliant few days for a team that not many people expected to do so well.”

Hasan says that the confidence inflicted by the team on players like him ahead of the enormous occasion really helped. He added,  “The atmosphere within the squad is a great help as the likes of Mickey Arthur and Sarfaraz Ahmed always say to me and the other players in the squad that you are the best, you have the skill, you have all of the ingredients to be successful and they have the belief in us. These are the things that are really inspiring the team at the moment and taking us forward as a group. That belief from the captain and coaching staff are inspiring us to do better things.”

“We came into the Lord's Test match without Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Yasir Shah but cricket is all about comings and goings. Great players retire and get injured, so you have to find replacements and they have to find their feet in international cricket. Misbah and Younis' achievements will always be remembered fondly and respected but we have some very good batsmen in their own right in the team at the moment. We have new guys like Imam-ul-Haq and there are also a number of other talented youngsters in the squad, as well as experienced guys like Sarfraz Ahmed, so the combination is a balanced one I feel.”

Pakistan now has the opportunity to make history, by winning the second Test match at Headingley, but Hasan understands the need to stay focused as it won't be easy at all.

He concluded, “we won't get complacent or overconfident after the win at Lord's. We have to remain professional, yes, we have won, but it's only one match. It's a big win and there is no way we will get overconfident. The next Test match at Headingley is a very important one and our aim is to win that match also and win the series 2-0.”

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 29 May, 2018

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